RETRIEVING AND SNOOZING CATEGORIZED CONVERSATIONS IN A CONVERSATION-BASED EMAIL SYSTEM

• US 20100057879A1
• Filed: 11/13/2009
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bay-Wei W. Chang, Jing Yee Lim, Paul T. Buchheit, Russell R. Tuck, III, Sanjeev Singh, Seth J. Golub
• Inventors: Buchheit, Paul T., Golub, Seth J., Singh, Sanjeev, Chang, Bay-Wei W., Lim, Jing Yee, Tuck, Russell R. III
• Granted Patent: US 8,533,274 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads

Abstract

A method and system for processing messages includes receiving a plurality of messages directed to a user. Each of the plurality of messages is associated with a respective conversation and list of conversations is displayed in an order determined in accordance with second predefined criteria, as a set of rows, where each row corresponds to one of the listed conversations and includes at least a sender list, a conversation topic and a date/time value. A user is enabled to identify one or more conversations in the list of conversations, to mark the identified conversations as belonging to a particular category, and to display another list of conversations comprising conversations marked as belonging to the particular category. A user may cause a conversation to be removed from certain displays, but to become visible again after the passage of a certain amount of time or the occurrence of an event.

Claims

1. A method of processing messages, comprising:

at a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs executed by the one or more processors;

receiving a plurality of messages directed to a user, each message having a unique message identifier;

associating each of the plurality of messages with a respective conversation, each conversation having a respective conversation identifier;

wherein each conversation comprises a set of one or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet first predefined criteria;

sending to a client system for display a first list of conversations including the respective conversation in an order determined in accordance with second predefined criteria, as a set of rows, each row corresponding to one of the listed conversations and including at least a sender list, a conversation topic and a date/time value;

enabling a user to identify one or more conversations in the first list of conversations, to mark the identified conversations as belonging to a particular category; and

sending to the client system for display a second list of conversations, the second list comprising only conversations marked as belonging to the particular category, wherein a plurality of the conversations listed in the second list each have a plurality of messages, and wherein the second list includes only a single row for each distinct conversation listed in the second list.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular category has a unique identifier provided by the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second list of conversations is produced by executing a corresponding search query.

4. The method of claim 1, including sending to the client system for display content of a conversation when the user selects a conversation in the displayed list of conversations.

5. The method of claim 4, including, enabling the user to associate the conversation with a category while the content of the conversation is being displayed, the category having a user-specified identifier.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein:

associating a message with a respective conversation includes adding the conversation to the first list of conversations;

displaying the conversation content includes displaying a means for removing the conversation from the first list of conversations, while keeping the conversation in a database of conversations associated with the user; and

the method further includes activating the means for removing, removing the conversation from the first list of conversations, and preventing the conversation from being automatically added to the first list of conversations when a newly received message is associated with the conversation.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the means for removing the conversation from the first list of conversations includes a means for bringing the conversation back to the first list of conversations when user specified criteria are met.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the criteria include an event triggering condition upon which the conversation is brought back to the first list of conversations.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the event triggering condition is satisfied when a number of unchecked messages in the conversation has reached a predetermined limit.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the event triggering condition is satisfied by an event selected from the list consisting of:

a message from a predetermined sender is associated with the conversation, a message that specifies the user as a primary recipient is associated with the conversation, and a message that contains a specified word or phrase is associated with the conversation.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the criteria include a time triggering condition upon which the conversation is brought back to the first list of conversations.

12. A computer readable storage medium and one or more computer programs embedded therein the one or more computer programs comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

receive a plurality of messages directed to a user, each message having a unique message identifier;

associate each of the plurality of messages with a respective conversation, each conversation having a respective conversation identifier;

wherein each conversation comprises a set of one or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet first predefined criteria;

send to a client system for display a first list of conversations including the respective conversation in an order determined in accordance with second predefined criteria, as a set of rows, each row corresponding to one of the listed conversations and including at least a sender list, a conversation topic and a date/time value;

enable a user to identify one or more conversations in the first list of conversations, to mark the identified conversations as belonging to a particular category; and

send to the client system for display a second list of conversations, the second list comprising only conversations marked as belonging to the particular category, wherein a plurality of the conversations listed in the second list each have a plurality of messages, and wherein the second list includes only a single row for each distinct conversation listed in the second list.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the particular category has a unique identifier provided by the user.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the second list of conversations is produced by executing a corresponding search query.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, further including instructions which, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to send to the client system for display content of a conversation when the user selects a conversation in the displayed first list of conversations.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, including instructions which, when executed by the computer system, enable the user to associate the conversation with a category while the content of the conversation is being displayed, the category having a user-specified identifier.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein:

the instructions for associating a message with a respective conversation include instructions to add the conversation to the first list of conversations; and

the instructions for sending to the client system content of a conversation include instructions to send to the client system a means for removing the conversation from the first list of conversations, while keeping the conversation in a database of conversations associated with the user; and

the instructions further include instructions to activate the means for removing, remove the conversation from the first list of conversations, and prevent the conversation from being automatically added to the first list of conversations when a newly received message is associated with the conversation.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, including instructions which, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to remove the conversation from the first list of conversations and instructions for bringing the conversation back to the first list of conversations when user specified criteria are met.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the criteria include an event triggering condition upon which the conversation is brought back to the first list of conversations.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein further including instructions which, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to satisfy the time trigger condition by the passage of one hour of time the event triggering condition is satisfied when a number of unchecked messages in the conversation has reached a predetermined limit.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein further including instructions which, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to satisfy the time trigger condition by the passage of one day the event triggering condition is satisfied by an event selected from the list consisting of:

a message from a predetermined sender is associated with the conversation, a message that specifies the user as a primary recipient is associated with the conversation, and a message that contains a specified word or phrase is associated with the conversation.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the criteria include a time triggering condition upon which the conversation is brought back to the first list of conversations.